The 2011 Médoc Marathon

We had a wonderful day for the Médoc Marathon this year. The early morning was particularly beautiful as you can see from this photo of the Château Pichon-Longueville Baron team ready to leave for the race, taken on the steps of the château.

Davar Irvani and his wine loving friends from London, Woody and Alex claimed to have chosen their elegant penguin costumes with striking bow ties in tribute to my normal get-up, which made me feel suitably honoured.

There was a great ambiance this year, very relaxed. Château Pichon-Longueville Baron was at kilometer 4, so we decided not to serve wine there, but instead at Château Pibran, at kilometer 22,7. (These decimal points matter when you are doing the run).

Here you see my assistant Ruth Santry’s daughter Laura, who for very obvious reason has just won the title “Miss Medoc”, waiting to welcome runners at Château Pibran just before the onslaught. (The first ones through take a Spartan approach to glasses of wine and do not stop, but a significant proportion are here for a party, which is just about to begin.)

Marie-Louise Schÿler pictured above was running in the Château Pichon-Longueville Baron team of course, looking very relaxed about the ordeal, in spite of being pursued by several people with eccentric headgear. Marie-Louise is part of a group called Bordeaux Grands Crus Runners, from fifteen properties in Bordeaux, who are all training together for the New York Marathon.

I was running alongside my friend Axel Probst, the German Port enthusiast and expert, who in spite of his youth and Olympian form (he was a competitive swimmer and then a pilot in the Luftwaffe), was polite enough to run at the same speed as me until kilometer 19 when I needed a rest before limping in slowly to Château Pibran, where we met up again as you see.

Here we are together with Miss Médoc and Alex Smith, one of the bow tied penguins, who also got to Château Pibran before me in spite of wearing his thick Penguin suit.

It was as always a great event, with a festive and convivial atmosphere, proving that neither wine nor exercise need always to be taken too seriously, and are just a part of a healthy and balanced life.